ISLAMABAD: Dr Ishrat Hussain, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), has expressed reservations over the bill granting autonomy to the central bank.
Speaking to a private media outlet, Dr Hussain said that the monetary and fiscal board shouldn’t have been dissolved. “There is a dire need that both of the country’s policies are kept in the same direction,” he said.
Hussain further said that the government should not constantly borrow a huge amount of money from commercial banks.
The former SBP governor said that the IMF should also have counseled the government that prioritising price stability over economic growth to this extent, would not be a healthy option.
Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin presented the SBP Amendment Bill with the supplementary finance bill in the NA, as a pre-requisite to resume the $6 billion External Fund Facility (EFF) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Opposition in the NA had staged a vehement protest and chanted slogans to prevent Shaukat Tarin from introducing the bills. PPP’s Naveed Qamar protested the government’s move to extend ordinances, saying that “they have expired, so how can they be extended?”
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan responded by saying that the government had introduced the ordinances in Parliament prior to their expiry.
At one point in the session, PPP’s Shazia Marri objected to the strength of lawmakers in Parliament. At this, the speaker instructed all MNAs to stand at their seats for a headcount.
